The World: Death in the Air: Fire and Fumes

The pilot's voice was calm, almost as if he were describing the sights
of Paris to his 117 passengers. "I have mechanical trouble with my
engines," he told the control tower at Orly Airport. The control tower
at Orly alerted all rescue units and prepared for an emergency landing
by the crippled craft. The alert was in vain. Only a minute and a half
before its scheduled landing, the Brazilian Varig Airlines 707, which
had flown from Sāo Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, crash-landed in an onion
field 2½ miles from the airport.